Process of manufacturing steel.



No. 675,329. Patented May 28, l90l.

- T. J. HESK'ETT &. H. JONES.

PROCESS OF THE MANUFACTU F STEEL.

' (Application filed. Sept. 24, 1897.

(No Model.)

F l C I l g I I K A U? B god EM ///7 NITED STATES FFICE.

PATENT THOMAS JAMES HESKETT AND HENRY JONES, OF ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, ASSIGNORS TO SAID HESKETT.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING STEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 675,329, dated May 28, 1901.

Application filed $epten ber 24, 1 8 9 7.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, THOMAS JAMES HEs- KETT, engineer and steel manufacturer, and HENRY JONES, engineer and iron-founder, subjects of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at North Terrace and Victoria street, Adelaide, in the Province of South Australia, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Manufacturing Steel, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is for the purpose of more conveniently and with greater economy manufacturing steel of any desired temper from iron or from suitable ores or metals.

By our improved process pig-iron, steelscrap, wrought-iron scrap, or any suitable mixture of these metals may be manufactured into steel of desired temper for steel castings or produced in ingots to be afterward rolled or forged.

In the Bessemer process, which is very largely employed in steel manufacture, a given quantity or charge of pig-iron is melted and conveyed to an open converter, which is separate and apart from the melting furnace or cupola, and the charge is converted into steel by the forcing of air-currents through the metal until the contained carbon has been reduced to the required percentage. During the operation the combustible gases formed pass off at a very high temperature and burn at the mouth of the converter, doing no useful work. At the same time a considerable percentage of the metal in a finely-divided state is ejected from the converter, along with the gases, owing to the very violent ebullition which takes place.

In our process of producing steel the converter is connected by a short covered fireproof channel with the cupola and is covered during the operation, by which means we obtain the following advantages, namely: The heat of combustion and the combustible gases given off in the conversion of the molten iron to steel instead of being wasted, as in open converters, are utilized in the melting down of the contents of the cupola, the operations of melting down and converting both being continuously and simultaneously carried on and so that a bath of steel is maintained in Serial No. 6 5 2,9 l 6. (N0 specimens.)

the converter and is constantly being supplied with additional heat in the form of highly-carburized metal going down from the smelting-zone of the cupola, and the heat of the steel in the converter is kept at a uniform temperature high enough for the oxygen from the blast to combine with the carbon in the metal at once on its falling into the converter.

The foregoing results are rendered possible by providing a short covered fire-brick-lined channel or flue connecting the cupola and converter, which lining is kept Very hot by the waste heat from the converter-gases escaping into the cupola and the flue allowing the metal to run from the cupola into the converter without loss of heat by exposure to the atmosphere or contact with material at a lower temperature than itself.

Another advantage of our process is that variable quantities and variable qualities of steel can be tapped out of the converter without suspending the operation and chemical action.

Another advantage of our process is that the particles of metal which are necessarily ejected and lost in an open converter are by our method saved and returned to be utilized.

In order that our invention may be clearly understood, we will now describe the same with reference to the apparatus which we prefer to employ.

Figure 1 is a central vertical section, and Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line a b of Fig. 1.

As before stated, our invention is based upon theprinciple of having the converter connected and combined with the cupola by a short confined fireproof channel.

In the drawings, A is a cupola, with feedopening A, in which the ore or metal is melted.

B is the converter, and O a flue, lined with fire-brick or fire-resisting material, connecting the cupola with the converter.

D is a blast-box, with a number of small twyer-holes D, arranged to deliver the blast into the converter below the surface of the molten metal.

E is a blast-pipe connected with a Roots or other blower or a blowing-engine.

F is a Valve which regulates the quantity of blast which it is desired to pass through the cupola-twyers G.

H is a brick-lined removable cover, so that the converter-lining can be repaired andronewed.

K is a slag-hole, through which an iron rod is inserted to take a sample of the molten steel, also for the overflow of slag, and at the same time permitting a limited escape of flames, by which the state of the operations may be judged.

In operation the cupola is charged with scrap-steel, rawiron, and pig-iron. The quantity of each is determined byanalyzing the various components of the charge and propertioning the weights thereof so that the mixture contains as nearly as possible the same chemical constituents as those which characterize the metal in the Bessemer process after the second stage has been reached. Suitable quantities (as determined by analysis) of fuel and flux are also used. In some cases no flux is required, and, as a matter of course, ore may be used instead of the whole or part of the iron. The charge is then melted in the usual way, and the temperature is raised to not less than 2,000 centigrade, the blast being delivered into it through the twyers G. The molten metal runs down through the passage G into the converter B, where a blast is applied through the twyers D of sufficient quantity and strength until the contents have been reduced by the expulsion of the carbon to the required composition. The rate of conversion of the molten iron into steel is constant because the blast-pressure is constant, the pipe D being in open communication with the blower. The rate of melting down is capable of variation in the cupola, being regulated at will by a valve or valves, such as E, which intercept and control the blast passing into the cupola-twyers. By this means the reduction of metal can be hastened or retarded and steel with greater or less percentage of carbon produced accordingly in the converter. M is tap-hole for drawing off molten steel to suitable ladles or molds.

In order to produce continuously any particular quality of steel, all that is required is to balance the rate of melting in the cupola with the rate of reduction in the converter by setting the cupola blast-regulating valve to a certain point, which is quickly ascertained by practice. The furnace will then go on for hours, producing the same quality of steel. The samples of steel which are taken frequently fromthe bath of steel by means of iron rods passed through the slag-hole in the converter, together with the color of the slag and the appearance of the small jet of flame at the slag-hole, give a ready indication of any irregularity in the cupola, which can at once be checked by increasing or decreasing the volume of blast supplied to the cupola.

Any change in the quality of the metal in the converter must take place slowly, as a bath of steel suilicient to cover the twyerhole is maintained constantly and the small stream of crude iron flowing into it from the cupola and gradually hardening the steel, as well as filling the converter, is counteracted in its hardening tendency by the action of the converter blast below.

Anyrequired quautityof steel can be tapped off from time to time, as in an ordinaryironcupola, provided the converter is not completely emptied of its metal, which it is not advisable to do if a uniform quality of steel is desired. The converter-blast gage gives a ready indication of the quantity of metal in the converter at any time, as does also the quantity of slag which is more freely ejected as the metal rises in the converter.

Our improved process, as above described, while suitable for steel manufacture from ore or metal on a large scale, is particularly adapted for foundry purposes, as a given quantity of molten steel can be tapped out of the converter without interfering with the working of the converter. Consequently the operations of melting down and converting go on simultaneously and continuously. The steel after ascertaining by sample that it is of the desired quality is taken oil. in any desired quantity from the converter to the molds at its highest temperature, thus avoiding loss through skulls in the ladles.

Fuel is economized in melting by making use of the heat of combustion and the combustible gases given elf at the converter. As the gases are combustible and at a high tem perature, they pass through the opening C and burn at the melting-down twyers G, giving off an intense heat. It will be seen that from the time the metal is charged into the cupola it is subjected to a constantly-increasing temperature until it is tapped into the ladle.

Metal is economized and saved by having the converter covered and closed in, except the small slag-hole, so that practically the particles of metal that in an open converter are thrown off and lost are by our process carried, with the products of combustion, through the opening C and then intercepted and returned to the converter along with the downflowing metal.

Plant is economized in foundries because an ordinary iron-foundry plant can be adapted at slight expense for producing steel according to our invention. The cupola-furnace can also be used for ordinaryiron-casting purposes by closing temporarily the convertertwyer holes with sand or by blocking up the brick-lined channel C and making a tappinghole at the raking-out door at the bottom of the cupola.

It will be obvious that for large operations two or more converters may be advantageously connected with one cupola to enable repairs to be effected in the converters at the same time that the smelting operations are proceeding. The invention may be applied to the manufacture of steel direct from the ore by charging the ore, fuel, and fluxes into the cupola-furnace in the usual way.

We have ascertained by trials that with our process we can obtain more heat than is required in producing steel with one per cent. of silicon, whereas under other processes two per cent. to three per cent. is required, and at the same time our process enables us to use a much greater proportion of scrap than can be used in the Bessemer process.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described process of making steel,which consists in mixing a suitable ironbearing charge with suitable quantities of carbonaceous fuel and flux, heating the mixture and supplying a sufficient amount of air thereto, thereby forming a bath of highly-carburized molten iron, subjecting said bath to the Bessemer process, causing a stream of highly-carburized iron to flow continuously into said bath without exposing the flowing stream to the atmosphere, maintaining out of contact with the atmosphere a continuous upflow of the combustible gases, and burning said gases within the melting zone, substantially as described.

2. The herein-described process of making steel,which consists in mixing a suitable ironbearing charge with suitable quantities of carbonaceous fuel and flux, heating the mixture 30 and supplyingasufficient amount of air thereto, thereby forming a bath of highly carburized molten iron, subjecting said bath to the Bessemer process, causing astream of highlycarburized iron to flow continuously into said bath without exposing the flowing stream to the atmosphere, regulating the supply of said carburized iron, maintaining out'of contact with the atmosphere a continuous upflow of the combustible gases from the converter in contact with the downflowing metal, and burning said gases within the melting zone, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention We have signed our names, in the presence of two witnesses, this 10th day of August, 1897.

THOMAS JAMES HESKETT. HENRY JONES.

Witnesses:

CHARLES NICHOLAS COLLISON, ARTHUR GORE OoLLIsoN. 

